Learning curves

L's vocab now includes 'rain' and 'wet' which may give some indication of this week's weather- now 8 days of thundery, squally showers and gales- its clearly winter now. Much watching of trees, rain and hail out of the window! Fortunately, being showers we have got out (a little). Both of us are v grateful for the loan of an extra car, so journeys to and from work and kindy have been dry rather than sodden!

I'm hoping C's learning curve in general knowledge is steep- the 'why' word is v common at the moment- so either he's learning a lot or I'm giving him too much attention! I've stopped answering if he doesn't include it in a whole sentence to check he is thinking a little! His latest play themes have been making 'mato stew' in the garden with all the autumnal collections he could find :

He's also (with a little help) created an aeroplane and lots of trucks for an airport (made out of mobilo, duplo etc). Inspired originally by our trip to Chch, the creation was fed by the discovery of the book 'Five Trucks' about trucks preparing a plane before take-off. This was a previous library favourite that we found in the latest Lions $1 book sale- a hall full of second hand books once every 2 months or so- standard price books here are hideously expensive- so discovering this sale was a very happy occasion!

We survived 33 hours with 4 children under 5! I was certainly kept on my toes, even with some extra help at key points (eg lunchtime + pick up one child at 12 + drop another off at 12.30 in a different place). I did enjoy it though- a very different pace to what I've become accustomed to, it forced me to be more organised and forward thinking! Our 2 enjoyed the company too!